Alert!

Hello, reader! If you intend to post a link to this blog on Twitter, be aware that for utterly mysterious reasons, Twitter thinks this blog is spam, and will prevent you from linking to it. Here's a workaround: change the .com in the address to .ca. I call it the "Maple Leaf Loophole." And thanks for sharing!

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Sound the Bell School's In Sucka

Hey! If you haven't heard, I'm back at it this year, teaching Geometry and Algebra 2 at local public high school. Mathalicious has picked up and headed west to continue doing their great work. Writing real-world lessons and helping operate a business (or trying to help, anyway) was educational and stimulating. I didn't predict how much I'd miss the day to day work of teaching class, though.

I get to work with the relentlessly charming Lois Burke! Along with many new awesome colleagues. The Geometry team, in particular is hungry to do some really good things. It's me along with three dudes I just call the Matts, because although they have many wonderful individual qualities, they are all named Matt. We have agreed to plan together and teach one new lesson per unit, observe each other, and meet weekly, which in my opinion is a prodigious start.

I don't have much to share at this point. I'm trying my best to resist the whirlwind of time-consuming stuff that I often let clutter up my thoughts about school. I don't need to read any more books. I don't need a 37 point checklist. I don't need to hang up 95 posters. I need to organize some simple tools and plan some good lessons and take many, many deep breaths.

My plan for f(t) is to record some really tedious minutiae about what I planned, how students responded, whether they learned anything, and what I did about it. I want to focus energy on the colleagues in my physical presence who are willing to negotiate ongoing collaborative work with me, but I'll also be grateful for new and continuing conversations in my online faculty lounge.